I bought Norton SystemWorks 2005 for a friend in Vancouver, BC (a retired
school teacher who is a computer disaster.) I thought she could use the
anti-virus program and the utilities to keep her system in some sort of order.
I wrote to Norton on June 12, 2005 enclosing the necessary rebate claim
information which fully complied with the rebate form requirements.
This morning I received a deceptively courteous email which provided a
tracking number but did not indicate any problem with my rebate claim.
Although I would not normally do so, I did go to the site referenced
which informed me that my rebate claim was invalid for the following reason:
Missing Original Proof of Purchase
and further informed me that this email was the only communication that I
would receive about my rebate claim.
I then went to the Contact Us site and was confronted with a form to
complete in order to learn what more I had to do to receive my rebate. This
form had a Choose a Product section but it did not list Norton SW 2005 so
that it really was not the applicable form to further pursue my rebate and
simply constituted an obstacle to doing so.
I referred to the Rebate Center FAQs which advised me that:
If I'm asked to send the original 'Proof of Purchase Tab', what
does that mean?
This means you need to send the Proof of Purchase Tab, which is one of the
small flaps located directly underneath the box top found on the product
you purchased.
The rebate form that I completed and submitted said that:
Proof of purchase is the top inside flap of box
which is precisely what I sent to Norton with the rebate form.
It seemed to me that Norton's emailed reply of July 3 is a blatant and
unconscionable attempt to deny payment of my rebate, or to delay payment so
that Norton can have the use of my $40 for a further period of time.
I have read that it is a common rebate practice for some companies to deny
a rebate claim in the expectation that the customer will not bother
further. I did not expect that Symantec Corporation (whose products I have
bought for years) would be in this category, and I am dismayed to find that
it is.
This is clearly a dishonest business practice.
I wrote to Norton rebate office to that affect with a copy to the
President in Cupertino and also to the SEC in Washington (which should be
interested in dishonest business practices but probably isn't outside of
the securities field).
I'll let the list know what transpires.
PS: I couldn't get the Live Update to work even though I did whatever the
Norton site said to do. So my unsophisticated friend has to go to the
Norton site (when she remembers to do so) to download the updates manually.
Sheesh!
Robert Turnbull, Toronto, Canada
